Rad Plaid

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S: Abarat

BC: It's the little things that make life beautiful.

FC: Abarat | By: Clive Barker | Candy's Journal

1: I dedicate this journal to Malingo. So you can always remember all of our adventures.

2: The Criss Cross man was on Malingo and My trails. There was talk on the islands that he was coming after us but Malingo decided that he wanted to show me the islands before anything really happened. So we went sight seeing for the day. We got to a cave and went in. We had just started to cross a bridge to the other side of a very deep canyon. We were half way when I heard my name. There was no mistaking that it was Houlihan who had called my name. I turned just in time to see him step onto the small bridge. It swayed side to side and Malingo and I were afraid that it was going to fall. Malingo and I looked at each other and knew exactly what we were thinking. We jumped off the bridge and into complete darkness. It was the only plan to get away from that man.

3: We were saved from Houlihan by Malingo and my quick thinking. We were both wondering what was below us because we couldn't see anything. We then decided to jump when we saw Houlihan step onto the bridge. If he had caught us we would have been taken to Christopher Carrion. "She smiled, the tiniest smile, and then, without even glancing up at their pursuers again, they both threw themselves headfirst over the rope railing." -Candy and Malingo (Pg. 21)

4: Malingo and I had finally escaped the criss cross man (Houlihan) and were floating on the Isabella. We saw a ship and started to call to it. They came over and picked us up. All was well on the ship. They got a good catch that day and they were just heading home. Lucky for us they agreed to give us a lift to the Island of Babilonium. We were just getting settled in when one of the crew members spotted a zethek in the distance. He said that there were three of them. Everybody started getting scared that they were going to destroy the catch so they tried to block the door. While they were doing that I took the wrench from Captain McBean and started after the zetheks.

5: Everybody was yelling for me to get back down on deck and that I was suicidal. I stood my ground and one of the zetheks came right at me. I swung the wrench and by accident hit the creature right on the skull. He passed out. The other two waited for a second, almost scared of me. I threated them to come down and get a piece of me so they could see what I could do. The first zethek was still unmoving but was up and fighting again within a couple of minutes. We fought them for a while with what little weapons we had before the zetheks smelled the fish and went below deck.

6: I fought them with the wrench that I grabbed from Captain McBean. Then the whole crew and Malingo fought them with the weapons that they could find or had on them. The zetheks went below deck after a while.

7: Candy didn't like the idea of trying to protect herself unarmed, so she grabbed hold of the wrench in Captain McBeans hand. "If you don't mind, I'll take that!" she said surprising even herself. (Pg. 32)

8: The zetheks went below deck and were going to poision the catch. We had to stop them! I didn't know what I could do but something inside of me did. I spoke a word of power! I didn't know it at first but it just kind of came out of my mouth. I was surprised along with everybody on board the boat. The zethek was covering his ears as if the word was effecting them and almost killing them. Malingo pushed me out into the deck to get away from the conditions of the word. It was good that he did that because I was starting to feel the affects. Once out in the open air we noticed how bad the fight left us. We saw the zetheks stumble off the boat but not before we caught one and tied him up.

9: We were lucky to be saved from the zetheks and from me speaking another word of power because Captain McBean saw the island of Babilonium, the carnival island. We decided to drop the zethek off there in a freak show. "An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it." -William Bernbach

10: We had finally arrived at the island and so we put the zethek in a freak show. Malingo and I went separate ways to see all that was on the island. I was walking around when I thought I saw somebody I knew. I did! It was Houlihan. He found Malingo and I here and I had to leave now. I tried looking for Malingo but the crowd was too busy and it was impossible to see. I ran to the freak show and went backstage. I saw the zethek and thought that maybe he could help me.

11: I opened his cage and climbed on his back. He started to fly but the man that worked at the show brought out a whip. Houlihan was yelling at the man to get me so he cracked his whip and it wrapped around my wrist. It hurt like crazy! I grabbed the whip with my hand and pulled. It flew from his had and the zethek flew off. I had escaped Houlihan once again! The zethek flew for a while until dropping me off on an island then he left.

12: The zethek saved me from Houlihan because when I jumped on his back he started to fly off. Lucky for me that when the man whipped me I grabbed the whip or I would have fallen into Houlihan's hands.

13: "Candy heard Scattamun's whip crack. She felt a sting of pain around her wrist and glanced down to see that the whip was wrapped around her wrist and hand three or four times. It hurt like crazy, but more than that it made her mad. How dare he take a whip to her? She caught hold of the whip and by luck the zethek took off and at that moment and we flew away." -Candy (Pg. 75-76)

14: I was dropped off on an island. I went out and explored. I found an abandoned castle so I went inside. I met a creature who was named Filth. He showed me around the castle and led me to a room where I slept. Filth came and woke me up a couple hours later. He told me that somebody is in the castle and he believes that that person is looking for me. I crept through the castle and I saw that the intruder was Houlihan and his sitchlings. I ran. The only problem was that I didn't know the castle so any door that I went through could lead me right back into his hands. I ran and ran and ran until I came into a secret room. I didn't see a way out. Houlihan was right behind me and had a weapon with him. Filth screamed for me to run when he saw the weapon. I tried to do just that but the room was so filled with junk that I was trapped to face him.

15: He took a blow at me but I dodged it. Only I fell and right when I did, I heard a voice. I looked around but didn't see anybody else. Then I realized that it was the totem pole talking. I raced over to it. Houlihan tried another blow but missed again. I touched the pole and thousands of creatures came out and were rejoicing and dancing. A gold light came about me and I realized that I could mold and shape the light. I worked quick and I inhaled all the light that I could. I was powerful but I didn't need to be. The weapon was consuming Houlihan and he couldn't control it. So he threw the weapon and it flew across the roon and wedged itself into the wall.

16: I was saved from the island and from the horror of what would happen if Houlhan came to by a kid named Letho. I didn't know him at the time or even when he kidnapped me. I was walking away from where I left Houlihan when something put a bag over my head. I tried to fight him but he just told me to relax and that it was no use fighting him. I passed out. Still, I was saved from Houlihan but now was onto a whole new adventure.

17: "We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves." -Tom Robbins

18: I knew better than to let my guard down. First Letho Kidnaps me and now I'm in an unknown house. I looked around a bit until a woman came and said that the master is ready to see me now. I followed her into a room where I met the master. At once I knew it was Carrion. He smiled and was trying to talk to me. I didn't want to listen but I didn't see any harm in it at the time. He started to talk about his family and I talked about mine. He was friendly and I was almost enjoying it until he touched my hand. I then saw who he really was. I ran up the steps and away from that man. He chased me up and kept saying that I have no more where left to run.

19: I pushed all my weight into a rotting away door and I tumbled back onto the roof. It was snowing and very cold. I was running around in circles in this white maze and was getting scared.I could hear him close behind so I started to climb a ladder hoping for an escape on the roof above me. I looked down to see Carrion climbing the ladder at an impossible speed. I turned around and steaded my balance. I kick him in the face a few times, then ran up the rest of the way. When I got to the top my luck ran out. There was really no where left to go. He pushed me off the roof and I slid down. I caught hold of the side of the house and hung on for my life.

20: I was saved when I herd a noise behind me. I turned slightly to see Malingo driving a glyph to save my life. I have never felt so happy. They opened the top and carried me in. If it wasn't for them I would have fallen or froze to death.

21: "All species capable of grasping this fact manage better in the struggle for existence than those which rely upon their own strength alone: the wolf, which hunts in a pack, has a greater chance of survival than the lion, which hunts alone." -Christian Lous Lange

22: We had finally escaped the island thanks to Malingo and his glyph. We got a boat and started back home. Little did we know that the Wormwood was on our trails. We all just turned in time to see the Wormwood creating a wave that could crush our ship in an instant. Lucky for us Captain McBean knew how to steer a ship in the worst of storms and was used to huge waves. If it wasn't for him steering the boat alone the wave and saving us, we would have died.

23: We all would have drowned from the Isabella and if she didn't kill us then the monsters of the deep would have finished us off. Only we had the great Captain McBean and he steered us right out from under the wave. "McBean had brought the boat into the path of a very fast-moving current. And it carried the vessel away." (Pg. 399)

24: The Wormwood was gaining on us. The wave was still not too far behind. I could see Chickentown and my family! Only the wave had started to flood my hometown. Captain McBean steered us over to my family and we got them all on the roof of our house. My dad however wouldn't go and stood his ground on a sinking boat. Just as I hopped on board his boat to help him, the Wormwood came into view and the Lord of Midnight stepped out from the wave.

25: He grabbed me and dragged me onto the Wormwood. The Cirss-Corss man kept shouting threats at me. I killed the Ciss-Cross man thanks to Letho and I went to go help Malingo fight. We killed everything in our path and made our way off the ship and onto our little boat again.

26: It was a terrible site. We knew we had to get off as fast as possible. Everyone around was going down and we had to act fast to get off the ship safely. Malingo and I killed everything in our path.

27: "The ship was coming apart around them, its mighty structure unknitted by fire and battle and magic." (Pg. 453)

28: The Isabella was retreating quickly and we had to get the people off the boat. Everyone was screaming and running off because they didn't want to be brought back to the Abarat. I was tired of everyone so I just looked out into the water to escape all of them. I saw something that looked like a face. No, it was a face! I knew that face all too well. I tried to move away from the railing but Letho reached up and grabbed me. I slipped on the floor and was dragged down into the Isabella. I was fighting him as best I could but he was strong! I fought and fought him because I needed air! I thought he was trying to drown me. Luckily he carried me into my house to the second floor where there was an air bubble.

29: I was saved when my abductor finally brought me into my house and I broke surface on the top floor. "Her abductor was strong, and he carried her down and down, and though she fought him as best she could, his hold was too powerful for her to free herself." (pg. 468, Narrator)

30: Carrion was ugring me to look into his eyes but I knew better. Princess Boa warned me that he wasn't as helpless as he seems. Princess Boa and I made up a plan. When Carrion would come over I would open the window and we would all be swept out. This would happen because we both realized that the house only had air because it was inside a bubble. (none of the windows were open so they created an air bubble). I walked over to the window and Carrion followed. I opened the window and water rushed in, carrying me, Letho, and the Lord of Midnight back out into the Abarat.

31: "And so it was that Candy Quackenbush and the Princess Boa came home, at last, to the islands of theAbarat." -My Thoughts (pg. 489)